MEDINA, Wash. (AP) — The city of Medina is paying $1.7 million to a former police lieutenant whose firing was deemed to be too harsh a punishment for the racially derogatory comments he made.

The Seattle Times reports that the settlement with former Lt. Roger Skinner awards him about four years of back pay and lost benefits.

The city’s Civil Service Commission initially upheld Skinner’s 2006 termination, which came after he told co-workers, “Asians don’t make good managers because people don’t like them.” The department’s then-chief, Jeffrey Chen, was Asian American.

Skinner appealed, and the state Supreme Court ruled he could pursue his claim. When the case came back to the Civil Service Commission, it ruled in 2012 that there was just cause for discipline — but not for termination. It imposed a 60-day suspension, demoted him to patrol officer and awarded back pay — and this time the city appealed.

But an appeals court agreed Skinner could collect back pay, leading to the $1.7 million settlement. (end)

Comments

So the racist cop hits the jackpot while Chen who was the real victim got nothing. I read that the one of the civil service commission members had been replaced with a different person before the decision to pay the cop. Was there any new information or did the decision change just because the new civil service member decided that he or she wanted to help out a racist? This whole case makes justice look like a big joke.